Saturday, June 15, 2013

I didn't love the chocolate ice cream I made first, so I tried another. This was definitely better and I actually bought the book and am looking forward to trying more recipes from it as it has lot of "base" recipes in it that I can work from.By the way, I just intended to make pumpkin, but well, Adam goes "where's the chocolate?" so hence this....Chocolate Ice Cream

3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I had some issues finding this, I bought Hershey's Cocoa, Special Dark with has the Dutch cocoa in it....to find real, I will have to go to a specialty store or order it online. We'll see if I decide to go that far) 5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (I used semisweet) 1 cup whole milk ¾ cup granulated sugar Pinch of salt 5 large egg yolks ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Warm 1 cup of the cream with the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan, whisking to thoroughly blend the cocoa. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer at a very low boil for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth. Then stir in the remaining 1 cup cream. Pour the mixture into a large bowl (I put it in the bowl I was going to use to keep it in the fridge in), scraping the saucepan as thoroughly as possible.

Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in the same saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolk. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks to temper them, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over the medium heat, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Stir it (they strained it first, I didn't) into the chocolate mixture until smooth, then stir in the vanilla. They used an ice bath, I just cooled on the counter for a bit.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.Makes 1 quart.

1 tbsp. bourbon (optional...they listed this, I didn't use it and I noticed several comments that didn't as well)

Mix pumpkin and vanilla. They said you had to refrigerate this for like 3-8 hours. I just threw it in the fridge while I did the rest of it (which takes me awhile as I get a lot of kid interruptions, so I had it in the fridge maybe an hour). Many comments said the same thing.

Meanwhile (I actually did this first....as I knew interruptions, etc), combine egg yolks, spices and rest of cream (in my case, milk) and rest of sugar (which I didn't have as I'd already put it in). Whisk until smooth and sugar dissolves.

Remove cream mixture from heat and temper the egg mixture with it. Then put all back into pot once the eggs are tempered. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly (ish) at a low simmer until thickened to coat the back of a spoon. Do not let boil. They then strained. I did not.

It says cool the mixture in an ice bath....I just let it cool on stove for awhile while I dealt with some kid-related imagined emergency. Add in pumpkin mixture from fridge. Cover and refrigerate overnight (or at least three hours). This I did do.

Churn in ice cream make and freeze. If using bourbon, they wanted you to add it in during the last few minutes of churning.

Put 1/3 of cookies in bottom of dish you want to serve it in (if you really want to go for the "dirt", use a 8 inch flower pot). Add 1/2 of filling, then 1/3 more cookies. Add rest of pudding mixture. Top with remaining cookies. Refrigerate or freeze. Again if you really want to go full board, use gummy worms, fake flowers....

One of the boys' friends had a pony ride groupon and so we took the boys out to have a pony ride. I wasn't sure that Andrew would get on, but he practically jumped on the horse! He didn't last the entire ride time, but did great!

I recently had a Pampered Chef party here and my consultant made this dip. I don't like bruschetta and I loved this. It is important to use the low-fat stuff mentioned or it will be too rich. This was really, really good!

1 1/2 tbsp. Herbs de Provence Seasoning Mix (so this is something they sell, I just plan to use regular herb de provenance, which is sold in stores)

3 garlic cloves

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1 pint grape tomatoes

Mix cream cheese, mayo, seasoning, garlic and pepper thoroughly. Stir in cheese. Smash up the grape tomatoes (they used their manual food processor) and stir into cheese mixture. Put into microwave safe bowl and nuke on high until the cheese is melted, stirring as needed. It will take a bit.

You might wonder if we have fallen off the Earth...no, not really, just been off schedule as we were between terms and so working on the house/yard and just really kind of off everything.

Adam finished up his last year of preschool and will start kindergarten in the fall. He has done SO WELL and really progressed. I plan to work with him on basic arithmetic this summer and sight reading as he is already starting on both himself.

Andrew will start preschool in the fall. He is also doing speech therapy this summer (he talks all the time, just not always clearly). I am hoping it will help him jump into preschool for fall. He is pretty much completely pee trained, but still having issues with Number 2.

Ray finished up his comps and will start work on his dissertation. We are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel there!

I am working on trying to do some research in the fall and hopefully a new class.